‘Decisions will have to be made’ — Santiago Canizares says Barcelona star’s progression will eventually force Spain call-up | OneFootball

The FC Barcelona team underwent a generational change in one particular position of their team in the recently closed 2025 summer transfer window, i.e., the goalkeeper. The Blaugranes brought in the Spaniard Joan Garcia from RCD Espanyol, who was one of the stand-out goalies in the league last season.

His performances for the Catalan team have also been very good in this early phase of the season. Thus, it was quite a surprise to see him not being a part of the Spanish national team squad announced by Luis de la Fuente for the World Cup qualifiers against Turkey and Bulgaria, as the Spanish manager decided to retain Unai Simon, David Raya, and Alex Remiro as his goalkeepers.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, one individual who did not agree with this decision of de la Fuente was the former Real Madrid and Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares. Talking about Garcia, the former goalie was quite clear that the Barcelona goalie is currently the best in Spain:

“On the national team list, many people were already saying he had to go. When a goalkeeper has that kind of talent and is the way he is, you can clearly see he has the talent of a top-level player, of an international. Things happen naturally.”

“Just like when you’re not doing well, goalkeeping doesn’t fool you. The goal says a lot of truth. This boy has the talent to be the goalkeeper — not the third, but the number one for Spain.”

Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Canizares was quite confident that Garcia would ultimately come out to be the number one for Spain:

“I’m not saying it has to be today, because there’s no need to disrupt the Spanish national team’s goalkeeping. De la Fuente is doing very well. But it’s clear that this will happen naturally.

“If this boy continues with this progression, the talent he has, for me, surpasses the three goalkeepers currently in the squad. But let that talent, I’m assuming, be proven with facts. Then decisions will have to be made. But with goalkeepers, things happen naturally, whether it’s moving up or moving down.”

Thus, although he will have to wait for a while to make his debut for his national team, everything indicates that Joan Garcia will turn out to be a starter for Spain eventually. For now, he is proving to be the difference-maker for Barcelona, and hopefully, he will continue with the form he has shown early in his Blaugrana career.